Blessings

Oil on Canvas, 24″ x 36″, 2022
Accepted into the Springville Museum of Art 2022 Spiritual and Religious Art Competition
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Joseph contemplates the blessings and challenges he has and will experience in helping raise the Christ child, dedicating himself, his family, and the Child to The Lord.

Others have interpreted this painting as showing Christ blessing a baby; Christ in spirit form blessing His infant self; and any father blessing his child.

Created to fulfill a project by the Los Angeles Society of Illustrators.

I love the relevance of this quote:

“As a father I have recently begun to think more often of Joseph, that strong, silent, almost unknown man who must have been more worthy than any other mortal man to be the guiding foster father of the living Son of God. It was Joseph selected from among all men who would teach Jesus to work. It was Joseph who taught Him the books of the law. It was Joseph who, in the seclusion of the shop, helped Him begin to understand who He was and ultimately what He was to become.

“I wonder what emotions Joseph might have had as he cleared away the dung and debris. I wonder if he felt the sting of tears as he hurriedly tried to find the cleanest straw and hold the animals back. I wonder if he wondered: “Could there be a more unhealthy, a more disease-ridden, a more despicable circumstance in which a child could be born? Is this a place fit for a King? Should the mother of the Son of God be asked to enter the valley of the shadow of death in such a foul and unfamiliar place as this? Is it wrong to wish her some comfort? Is it right He should be born here?”

“But I am certain Joseph did not mutter and Mary did not wail. They knew a great deal and did the best they could. Perhaps these parents knew even then that in the beginning of His mortal life, as well as in the end, this baby son born to them would have to descend beneath every human pain and disappointment. He would do so to help those who also felt they had been born without advantage.”

Jeffrey R. Holland, Elder Holland shares how fatherhood changed the way he sees the Christmas story, https://www.ldsliving.com/elder-holland-shares-how-becoming-father-influenced-how-he-sees-the-christmas-story/s/11177